Why Trump's Leadership Is Akin To Global Incompetent Leaders

Donald J. Trump has been in office for 120 days now. And let’s just say, that it hasn’t been the smoothest hundred and twenty days. Each day brings a new scandal or a tasteless, often childish, comment tweeted by the Commander-in-Chief. The unpredictability and unreliability of the current Trump administration, including Trump himself, has caused many to question the status of United States as a world power. Many immigrants are suddenly reminded of corrupt and often failed leaderships of countries that they left behind--countries that now the United States is seeming to resemble because of its leader’s inability to make decisions that will benefit its people.

Take United States’ strategic ally Pakistan for example. Pakistan has six to seven major political parties that fight not only for the presidential seat, but seats in the Parliament as well. Despite having several political parties, the past four to five decades have seen presidents and prime ministers from the same three parties back to back. It is interesting to see whether the president holds more or the prime minister depending on which position a political party leader was elected to. When Pakistan’s People’s Party (PPP) head, Asif Ali Zardari, held the presidential seat from 2008 – 2013, the Prime Ministers under him did not hold the same power as the president. While PM Yousaf Raza Gillani did gain spotlight for losing his position since being charged with contempt of court, the next PM, Raja Pervaiz Ashraif, maintained a fairly low profile.

On the other hand, when Pakistan Muslim League – N’s (PML-N) head Nawaz Sharif became the current PM, the power shifted towards him and the current President Mamnoon Hussain is the one in the shadows now. Going back to comparison with POTUS, like Trump, Sharif was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. His family is the fourth richest in Pakistan with a net worth of over $1.4 billion. It is hard for politicians who come from wealth to relate to the average citizens who labors hard all day. Yet, these are men in charge of bringing a change and enacting policies that will help the poor. Similar to Trump, PM Nawaz Sharif was met with resistance, with the slogan “Go Nawaz Go” becoming a prominent way of protesting. The anti-Sharif movement was intensified when Panama Paper leaks revealed that Mr. Sharif had offshore accounts with more lands in Pakistan and London. Funny thing is that at least Sharif’s son admitted that there was a transparency problem and the accounts were offshore to avoid taxes. He stated that while there is nothing illegal about any of their wealth that was exposed in the leaks, there should be more accountability towards the people.

If one thinks about it, it is quite sad that the son of a corruption-ridden politician comes clean about his accounts, whereas us Americans are still waiting on seeing Mr. Trump’s tax returns. People often forget that Trump himself tweeted calling for greater transparency between the Obama administration and the country.

Furthermore, the Pakistani people wanted a leader who would not be intimidated by India considering the tensions between the two countries. A huge part of Pakistani pride comes from the nationalistic idea that Pakistanis are better than Indians--same goes vice versa. However, PM Sharif was seen getting over friendly with Indian PM Narendra Modi soon after his getting the position. This is akin to Trump promoting a campaign off of anti-Muslim sentiments, but going on tour to Saudi Arabia where he is set to give a speech on Islam, in both cases leaving the public outraged by going against desired national interest.

But wait…there’s more! PM Sharif has been accused of using his political power to make advantageous business deals by using his position as an incentive. With the Ivanka Trump making trade deals with Chinese investors, it sounds like quite the same story. It is disheartening to say the least that a country such as the United States that boasts itself for its constitution and government has reached a place where parallels like these have to be drawn. At least the Pakistani people have realized their leaders are corrupt and accepted the way others perceive the government. Yet, may Americans are far from accepting the truth. If we don’t realize our faults and improve them, how will we defend America’s position as the global superpower? How can we justify fighting from freedom in other countries when the POTUS doesn’t even want to give the media freedom to attend his private meetings?

As harsh and bitter answers to these questions might sound, finding their answers is key in maintaining America the land of laws we admire it to be.

College As Told By Junie B. Jones

The Junie B. Jones series was a big part of my childhood. They were the first chapter books I ever read. On car trips, my mother would entertain my sister and me by purchasing a new Junie B. Jones book and reading it to us. My favorite part about the books then, and still, are how funny they are. Junie B. takes things very literally, and her (mis)adventures are hilarious. A lot of children's authors tend to write for children and parents in their books to keep the attention of both parties. Barbara Park, the author of the Junie B. Jones series, did just that. This is why many things Junie B. said in Kindergarten could be applied to her experiences in college, as shown here.

When Junie B. introduces herself hundreds of times during orientation week:

“My name is Junie B. Jones. The B stands for Beatrice. Except I don't like Beatrice. I just like B and that's all." (Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus, p. 1)

When she goes to her first college career fair:

"Yeah, only guess what? I never even heard of that dumb word careers before. And so I won't know what the heck we're talking about." (Junie B. Jones and her Big Fat Mouth, p. 2)

When she thinks people in class are gossiping about her:

“They whispered to each other for a real long time. Also, they kept looking at me. And they wouldn't even stop." (Junie B., First Grader Boss of Lunch, p. 66)

When someone asks her about the library:

“It's where the books are. And guess what? Books are my very favorite things in the whole world!" (Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus, p. 27)

When she doesn't know what she's eating at the caf:

“I peeked inside the bread. I stared and stared for a real long time. 'Cause I didn't actually recognize the meat, that's why. Finally, I ate it anyway. It was tasty...whatever it was." (Junie B., First Grader Boss of Lunch, p. 66)

Abortion Bans Are Only A Small Part Of The Republican War On Women

This week, several states passed laws that ban abortion after six to eight weeks of pregnancy, before most women even know that they're pregnant. The most egregious of these is Alabama — the state has banned abortion except for in cases of danger to the mother. Exceptions in the cases of rape and incest were actively voted against by the state legislature. Under the new law, any doctor who is caught giving an abortion would be sentenced to 99 years in prison, and the woman would be charged with murder.

Apart from the fact that this explicitly violates the decision of Roe v. Wade (which is the point), this is only a small part of the slow but steady degradation of women's rights by Republicans in the United States. To anyone who believes that this is simply about people being "pro-life" or "saving the children," then tell them to look at what happens after the fetus is carried to term.

Republicans oppose forcing fathers to be involved in the lives of their children that were forcibly carried to term, desires to cut food stamps and make it more difficult to feed said child, cut funding for affordable housing to make it more difficult for them to find homes, cut spending to public education so these children can't move up the social ladder, and refuse to offer the woman or her child health insurance to keep them both healthy. What about efforts to prevent pregnancy? Republicans also oppose funding birth control and contraception, as well as opposing comprehensive sexual education. To them, the only feasible solution is to simply keep your legs shut. They oppose all of these things because it is, in their eyes, a violation of individual rights to force people to do something. The bill also makes women who get abortions felons, and felons can't vote. I'll let you finish putting those two together.

If you view it from this framework, it would seem like Republicans are being extremely hypocritical by violating the personal freedoms of pregnant women, but if you look at it from the view of restricting social mobility for women, then it makes perfect sense. The Republican dogma of "individual rights" and "personal responsibility" is a socially acceptable facade that they use to cover up their true intentions of protecting the status quo and protect those in power. About any Republican policy, ask yourself: does this disperse power or consolidate it? Whether it be education, healthcare, the environment, or the economy, Republicans love to keep power away from the average citizen and give it to the small number of people that they deem "deserving" of it because of their race, gender, wealth, or power. This is the case with abortion as well; Power is being taken from women, and being given back to men in a reversal of the Feminist Movement of the 1970s.

Republicans don't believe in systemic issues. They believe that everyone has the same opportunity to succeed regardless of what point they started. This is why they love capitalism so much. It acts as some sort of great filter in which only those who deserve power can make it to the top. It's also why they hate social policies; they think that helping people who can't help themselves changes the hierarchy in a negative way by giving people who don't "deserve" power, power. Of course, we know that just because you have money and power doesn't mean you earned it fair and square, and even if Republicans believe it, it wouldn't change anything because it wouldn't change how they want to distribute power.

In short, Republican policies, including abortion, leave the average American with less money, less protection, less education, worse health, less opportunity, fewer rights, and less freedom. This is NOT a side effect. This is the point. Regardless of what Republicans will tell you about "inalienable rights" and how everyone is equal, in reality, they believe that some people and groups are more deserving of rights than others, and the group that deserves rights the most are the ones "that will do the best with them." To Republicans, this group consists of the wealthy, the powerful, and the white — the mega-rich, the CEOs of large companies, gun owners and Christians.

So, who do Republicans think deserve power and give it to? People who look and think like them. This, however, begs the question: Who do they want to take it from?